Marriott Receives FCC Ruling on Petition To Allow Wifi Blocking

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Back in October, Marriott was caught blocking Wifi at the Gaylord Opryland hotel, saying that they had been intending to block “rogue wireless hotspots”. Marriott and the American Hotel & Lodging Association then petitioned in late December the FCC to allow them to block Wifi. Yesterday the FCC issued their ruling on the matter.

When I received an alert today from the FCC that a ruling has been made, I was pleased to hear that Marriott has not been granted approval to block guest hotspots or limit their personal wireless access.

Here’s the FCC document –

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Here’s a link to the full document.

Here’s a link to the filing from December.

As a consumer I agree wholeheartedly with the FCC. I personally pay for a monthly hotspot, and it is fast and reliable. If a hotel is able to block that and require that I use what they provide instead then it would deny me of a service that I pay for already. Bravo to the FCC for nipping this in the bud, because if they had allowed it I could foresee other hotels trying this as well.

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